Greg "The Bag" Mumma Sh*ts Bed, Pants; Skulls Romp in 2nd Revenge Game

"In my 19 some-odd years of playing hockey, 'The Bag' has been involved in the 2 single strangest events I've ever seen." - Justin Panzer

The History
Last year, as the fall season was getting ready to kick into gear the Skulls had their first practice. That's when we all met "The Bag". He walked into the locker room, with a hockey bag, built to carry a minivan filled with dead bodies and plopped it down on the floor (fan included). From his first second in the door, it had begun.

Greg went on to play about three quarters of the fall/winter season with the Skulls. He wasn't a very skilled player but really separated himself from the team by not putting in any effort on the ice and then bitching about everyone else off the ice when we would get back into the locker room. His lack of desire to stand up straight and skate hard really drove the team crazy.

Most of us were concerned that he might actually have a medical condition that would limit his play, but as Assistant Captain Scott Sarama soon found out, that was the way Greg was. His inability to co-exist with any Skulls team members made the team uncomfortable and we wound up purchasing Greg's contract for the rest of the year. Leading Justin Panzer to witness the first of the two single strangest events he's ever been part of in his hockey career.

The Summer season came around and Greg become one of the Chair Members of the league and placed himself on the best team in the B2 division, Blades of Steel. They played us three times and beat the crap out of us each time. Our Skulls team had improved on our 0-20-1 record from the Winter season, but they sure didn't hold back at all as they smeared the ice with us. It sucked. Alot. Mumma and the Blades of Steel moved up to B1 following their triumph through the B2 league but in the winter he also agreed to play for the "Warriors" in our league. The Skulls saw their chance to extract revenge.

This Season
After the Skulls had divided into 3 teams for the fall season, all were poised to come out guns a-blazing. The B2 team started hot winning its first 3, and owning a 3-1 record going into our first game vs. The Warriors with "The Bag" in net. We came out strong getting multiple goals from multiple sources as it felt good to dominate our "rival opponent" if you will, by a score of 10-3. My how the mighty Mumma had fallen. We all returned to the locker and celebrated our victory that night, yearning for the next opportunity to beat the Warriors.

The Game
So last night we had the chance. Coming out of the gate the Skulls were ready to play. 6 first period goals gave us a huge lead, but we started to settle in and not skate as hard, and we let up our guard, as we let up two goals. After the first period it was 6-2 and after the second period it was 8-2 and had started to get chippy. John Perfetto scored a breakaway goal to make it 8-2 and on his way in got a wicked two handed slash to the knee from the Warrriors captain which created a delayed penalty. But it wasn't till about half way through the third period that we scored again to make it 9-2. Then the second strangest event in hockey that Justin Panzer had ever seen happened, and it was definitely the strangest I've ever seen.

After a struggle along the boards in our own zone the puck came free and shot over to John Morrisette who fired it up the boards to John Perfetto, who with one move, went around the defenseman. As he came in on goal, "The Bag" meerly got out of the way and allowed John to score. John placed the puck in the net and we all stood around befuttled. Nevertheless, they dropped the puck for the next faceoff, and the Warriors won it back, as the defenseman got the puck he passed it back to Mumma, who turned around, and after hitting his own post on the first try, he put the puck in his own net making the score 11-2 now.

The Warriors were purposely attempting to end the game early via Mercy (10-goal) Rule.

After the next puck drop, I fired it down the ice and Mumma put it in his own net to end the game; we were pissed. It wasn't till later that we found out that the Captain, asked Greg to do this, which made it even stranger. They had felt we were trying to run the score up and decided to just end the game immediately and not let the rest of the time tick off. After losing 30 out of the first 34 games as a Skull, about one fourth of them by running clock or mercy rule, they were gonna take this victory from us and cause controversy amongst their team and ours. Poor sportsmanship on the part of the Captain and the players that went along with it is the easiest way to describe it. I've never seen anything like that, would never ask that of my players, nor would I expect to see anything like that again... however... we do play the Warriors again in early January, so we'll see... for those of you still in utter disbelief you can check out the stat sheet here. For everyone else... Go Skulls!!! As we improve to a 5-1-1 record and chase after first place in our division.

Loser. Jerk. Sh*thead

I once heard this story about a girl who was dating this guy. He picked her up from her dorm one night, took her out to a movie, laughed, hugged, held hands, even kissed. Then, he dropped her off later that night and said, "hey, I dont think we should date anymore."

After his fifth season with the Philadelphia Eagles, LJ "Large Jackass" Smith wants out of Philadelphia. Honestly, the last person who has come out and said this is... I need not mention... but... Terrell Owens. I can't explain my anger right now with this guy. What kind of professional, halfway through a dogshit (him not the Eagles) season announces crap like that? Do you think leaking to the media that you're unhappy with your team mid-year as they're trying to still strive towards a playoff birth is good for your team? Do you think it'll help your craptastic stats? or maybe your ability to hold on to the ball?

He never caught more than 5 tds, he never reached 700 yards receiving. He's had two surgeries thus far this year and has only caught 11 passes and he wants to leave Philly?? By the way, that was a great fumble he had last week against Washington. He doesn't deserve to free agent shop.

As if you couldn't tell, I'm seething right now. If the Eagles wouldn't have drafted him when they did, he'd have hardly gotten the chance to play let alone make a starting position, Mr. Rutgers Alumni.

Needless to say, the story about the girl ends with the girl cursing the guy out, and slapping him in the face. The way the Eagles should now. I could care less if LJ doesn't put another foot on that field. Go recover from your torn labia.

Mc-Terrible

Birds of a Feather.... suck together.

As we reach the official "halfway" point of this Parody filled NFL Season, the magic 8 ball has become oh so clear. If you are not the Patriots or the Colts... you suck. One exception may be able to be made, for the annoying step-brother that lives in the Northwest Pennsylvania attic, but besides that, everyone sucks.

The Eagles and Ravens put up completely abysmal numbers on Sunday and Monday Night respectively, both teams giving up 38 points and almost double digit turnovers combined. The Eagles (3-5) are now 4 games out of the division lead behind the Cowboys while the Ravens (4-4) are only two out. However, they both look as if their season has been flushed down the drain.

Their inability to move the football has truly bitten them in their feathered ass. Both are offensives have struggled much more than expected and both coaches seem to be learning nothing from it. As any fan/announcer/homeless person can see, these teams need to run the football. For the Eagles it worked so effectively last year with Garcia at the helm... you need not make big plays, just casually throw and run the ball down the field effectively and the field will stretch naturally. All night on Sunday vs. the Cowboys the Eagles threw on 1st down, ran on second down for a manageable third down. The tactic, while not terrible, really limits your options on third down. The Cowboys simply stuck 6 Defensive Backs in the game and forced McNabb to find a receiver. To me, you need only to go to one source for this issue... Andy Reid.

While this blogger doesn't believe that Andy personal trials and tribulations are the issue, he does believe that his offensive methods are unoriginal and faulty. Every football fan knows the Eagles are pass happy or even pass wacky on their offensive front, but every Eagles fan knows how good Brian Westbrook is. He NEEDS to carry the ball... much more than he currently is. It keeps the defense honest, and he is very successful averaging 4+ yards a carry this year.

On Sunday, the Eagles threw 4 out of their first 5 plays out of the gate, which resulted in Fumble, Incomplete, Run for 4 yards, Complete, InComplete. 2 of the 5 were considered "successful" plays. Why keep this pattern up??

The Ravens, while not having the same issues, are also clearly lacking the ability to run during game situations where everyone and their brother can see they need to run. You need to only go back to Buffalo, 2 games ago when the Ravens had 2nd and 1 in Buffalo territory with less than 2 minutes remaining. Professor Billick called 3 straight passes, game over.

What is it about watching football that enables you to see what these coaches can't?? Maybe they both need a break. Maybe a final season should be at hand here... I know that I definitely would not be opposed to either of these decisions, but only time will tell as we watch the rest of the Patriots/Colts super bowl season unfold.

A Forty-Night to Remember

As we approach the end of the first third of the summer softball season we look back at our accomplishments. Yes, you're correct this isn't about the Phillies (yet) but instead is about our Adult Co-Ed League softball team... The Swedish Heaver Bunters. For the first time in three seasons we have a very good chance at winning our division. We currently sit, tied for 1st, with a 4-2 record.

After starting out 2-0 by destroying the Blue Bombers twice outscoring them 37-3 in two games, we've since split games with Meadowridge and Expert Smiles. In 6 games we have scored 89 runs, almost 15 runs/game, and have only given up 45, a measly 7.5 runs/game. The reason behind this domination, as Expert Smiles witnessed first hand, Expert Partying. The key to all victories this year has been the Heaver Bunter desire to get off the field as fast as possible so we can get down with the Friday Night partying!!

As the season started fast, so did we, Slaughtering the Blue Bombers twice, which was lead by Mandy and Sonia's two cases of Miller Lite! An on-slaught of beer pong ensued shortly after the after-party started, leaving many drunk and stumbling. However we knew certainly that this would be outdone by the second week's game's beer host's... Sprizzle and D-Baby. However... due to unforseen vagina tendencies by the HoCo Rec Department of Sports, these games were postponed!!! leaving Spray and Derek in utter shock. I caught up with them after the announcement to postpone had spread to see how they felt.

Me: So how do you feel knowing that your chance to lead the team to slaughter rule was ripped out from under you?
Spray: You know...I'm so devastated right now. I spent a 40 minute session at the Welsh Bar... I mean in the bullpen warming up my drinking.. umm pitching arm and I am very disappointed in the decision handed down by league officials. I'm pretty sure I would've pitched two perfect games tonight.
Derek: Yeah man. We had some good tricks up our sleeve to get everyone wasted tonight and now, what the fuck. This even causes us to lose our beer hosting night until the make-up game is announced. I was definitely planning to get a jump start on the night by seeing how many times I could yell Fuck on the field before the umpire threw me out of the game. Then I would be the first one drunk later.

After a couple days of non-softball/drinking a grog fell over the team, we were all down on ourselves and saying things like, "now watch, we're gonna wind up playing till November again cause of rain-outs." The news didn't get any better, as they announced the make-up date to be July 20. Spray and Derek would have to wait until the middle of July to lead this team to drunken victory.

But then, as quickly as it had been scheduled, there was a trade! A trade that would eventually cause Mel Kiper Jr's head to explode in shock and awe. Spray and Derek traded their beer night to May 11th, an unheard of leap. The trade was made with Debbie and Theresa whose decision to do this has the critics in an uproar.

When asked about the trade Debbie said: "Well we were looking for a night where we could guarantee partying and since Nick and Dalton won't be at that game, we're takin this party to the strip clubs!!! Plus, they threw in Randy Moss and a 6th round draft choice in 2008."

Kiper felt this was an unprecedented deal saying "July 22nd wasn't even on my top 20 draft board. I don't know what Deb and T were thinking, they should have explored more trade options, possibly even trading down one spot for Preakness weekend, or holding out for Brady Quinn." Nevertheless, the trade was completed and Spray and Derek were back and the team felt the momentum swing in their favor.

The following weekend the Heaver Bunters hosted Meadowridge, and though they got off to a slow start falling behind 5-0 and 8-4, they brought out the bats for the last three innings. Sparked by a key "webgem" by D-Baby and Brivolbn7q that involved a diving attempt by D-Baby having him deflect the ball in the air to Nick at shortstop, the Bunters were ready to move. Down 8-4 in the 5th they fought back to tie the game. After holding Meadowridge to no runs in the bottom half of the inning the Bunters came out strong scoring 5 big runs to take a 13-8 lead in the last inning (do to time). Meadowridge battled back but Sprizzle Inc. who struck out 6 in the game(s), contributed greatly and with the tying run on 2nd base John "J-Nice" Perfetto made a juggling catch to end the game and we held on to a 13-12 victory. John of course later contributed his amazing catch to his several years spent working for the local traveling circus. But... Since Beer night was hosted by Nick and D-Ton that night we of course, credit that victory to them. Meadowridge battled back the second game and won 12-8 leaving both teams with a 1-1 split.

Then the hype started. The week leading up to last Friday's first place matchup between the Heaver Bunters and Expert Smiles. Knowing that Derek and Spray had secured that spot for beer night, mother nature threw in a wrinkle. Rain prediction on Friday night, all the way from Monday via weather channel. This again caused many comments like, "it's going to rain" and "looks like it's going to rain" and "it's probably going to rain" leaving the Heaver Bunters a little less motivated than usual. However, come game day it was sunny and 70 degrees prompting responses like "its not going to rain" and "looks like it's not going to rain" and "where the hell are all the rain clouds?". However, getting the team back to an excited state would prove to be difficult for Derek and Spray.

Sprizzle attempted to start right from get-go, as two hours before the game he made the beer run, returning with a plethora of 40s and 22s for everyone there. The excitement began to grow, but wasn't truly felt until the second game. In game one, Nick went down with an injury although he played the entire first game and took part in two double-plays keeping the Heaver Bunters alive. Spray came through with a great pitching effort and Chris Golder came up with a diving highlight reel catch in left field... but it wasn't enough. The 9 runs we could muster together couldn't keep Expert Smiles from hitting the ball wherever we weren't and Derek and Spray knew they had to step up.

Game two involved the new strategy of a 12 player batting lineup. This worked almost immediately as the beer hosts pummeled hit after hit and took walk after walk on their way to 3, 10 and 9 run innings. Putting up 22 in the second game was more than enough to take the heart out of Expert Smiles. Sending pitcher after pitcher off the mound and giving up only 5 runs in the game lead by D-Baby at shortstop turning another double play and Josh Farley with his stellar left field catches and stops. The turning point however, was clearly Big County at the bat.

The mammoth 6'4" BC was walked his first two times to the plate, and on his third at bat, the pitcher fell apart. Being so deathly afraid of the big guy's long ball, and his third leg which enabled him to run at incredible speeds, the opposing pitcher actually threw the ball over the backstop AND over the grandstand behind home. Later he claimed "he (BC) had an unfair advantage, it was like he was up there with two bats, and it just frustrated me beyond belief." Big County walked again and the pitcher was pulled 2 batters later.

The Heaver Bunters would declare victory dominating that game 22-5 and it was then time to party!!! Although noone attempted the notorious "Edward 40-hands" there was plenty of booze to be passed around. And of course, it was Josh's birthday, so we all toasted to a shot of three olives vodka, for good ol' Dr. Joorsh on his day of celebration. The beer pong table got off to a crazy pace as BC and Steph started to run the table... but the competition level quickly staggered as the night progressed into more drinking. The night was a success, lead by 40 oz malt beverages and a fantastic night of Softball.

Next week... the pressure is on for Zemmy and Denise to come through.

The Draft... Again???

Since last week the Phils have leveled out. Last time I wrote they had just whooped the Nats and were preparing for a day game the next day. Problem was, Sean Hill, the lone bright spot for the Nationals was on the mound. He pitched 8 innings of 1 run ball and left just before it got interesting in the 9th. Rowand homered in the 7th to cut the lead to 4-1 and extend his hitting streak to 13 games, the highest it got was 16 before he lost it earlier this week (however he reached base in 24 straight games). Then in the 9th Hill walked the leadoff batter Victorino. That was his last batter, Utley the flew out to the deepest part of the ballpark about 403 ft off of Cordero. Howard then doubled and then had runners at 2nd and 3rd, 1 out, down by 3. Burrell then launched what looked like the game tying shot, but it died at the warning track bringing home Victorino. Then Helms, who was 2 for 3 already in the game struck out to end the game.

That kinda game you dont really mind losing. Hill pitched a phenomenal game and they came within 3-5 feet literally of tying it up. Things won't always bounce your way so if you lose, I think it's better to lose with the game in reach.

Anyway, so they took 2 out of 3 from the Nats, then the Phils proceeded to take 2 out of 3 more from the Marlins. The third game of the series being where 43 yr old Jamie Moyer carried a no-hitter into the 7th inning before Miguel Cabrera roped a line drive just over the head of Abraham Nunez (I've always disliked this guy) with 2 outs. 7 outs away... thats it. Oh well, they hung on to win 4-1 I think, or something like that.

Then they went down to Atlanta. Lost the first game on a bottom of the 9th 3-run homer to Andruw Jones (I REALLY have always disliked this guy). Then the Phils took the second game of the series 6-4 despite 2 homeruns by Chipper Jones. In the 3rd inning of this game, however, Philly killer, Brian McCann, was called for Catcher Interference on a play where Rod Barajas swung at a pitch and managed to hit McCann's catching hand and still get a piece of the ball for a foul tip. Barajas later reached on a walk and then was moved up when there was a passed ball with the bases loaded because McCann couldn't effectively catch the pitch. He left the game after this play.

Wow, I can't imagine getting my hand slammed by a major league swing... I hit my hand in a desk drawer and it hurts enough, let alone having a 36 oz hunk of tree smash my hand at a 70-80 mph. Damn.

The Phillies then went on to lose the third of this series 4-3. The lone bright spot in the game was Ryan Howard's 3-run jack in the 5th that tied the game, his 4th of the year. Howard's slow HR start is not far off pace from last year. They showed a stat during one of his ABs in this game that said on May 2nd last year he had only 5 HRs and this year he had 4. However... he was batting about 80 points higher and last night he did strike out 4 times. Yeesh. If he can start to hit more effectively the phils are gonna score alot more runs.

And now... the draft. What were they thinking. Colin Cowherd called it the WORST pick of the draft, even worse than Miami's Ted Ginn Jr., and that was a bad bad pick. Why waste a 2nd round draft choice on a guy that will be there for 2 more rounds at least and why then would you waste it on a QB??? Never ever can Philadelphia Sports teams do something to make us fans happy. They can't do it, it's like they have some kind of ridiculous punishment gene implanted in the heads of all Philadelphia Sports Team management staff and players. Lead em on, trade that 1st round draft choice for 3 picks. YAY! Now pick a QB. What the F*ck?!??! It's sooooooooooo frustrating. I just want to see them win one championship... I dont care who it is! Settle this frustration!! Please??! At least watch this and suffer with me http://youtube.com/watch?v=zfj0iSSPVTs&mode=related&search=

And it all started with...

...a triple play. I'm not sure that I've ever seen a Triple play live before, it's usually only on SportsCenter. But in this last week I've seen a completely different team. Since that game I attended last week that went 13 grueling innings, the Phillies are 5-1 and have outscored opponents 44-17. Awesome. It's about freakin time. After beating the Nationals 4-2 in a Thursday afternoon game, the Phillies blew a 1-0, 1 hitter in the bottom of the 9th to Cincy. The Phillies are the only team to lose a game in Extra innings while only giving up 4 hits or less in the game in the last 3 years. AND THEY'VE DONE IT TWICE. So after that blown save by 'Flash' they came back, and on a tired Saturday Afternoon in NJ I got to watch almost the whole game.

Cole Hamels was awesome. 15 K's and a complete game. Thats one way to not blow a save, keep the bullpen where they are. But with a 2-1 lead in the 5th inning the Phillies looked like they were in trouble. Two bloop singles back to back gave the Reds 1st and 2nd with no outs. As the announcers began to talk about how Hamels needed a double play, the play had begun... a slow hopper to Nunez, who grabbed it stepped on third, threw to Utley who caught and released the ball in about .0000000001 seconds over to Helms (playing first for injured Howard) for a triple play. A ground ball force out triple play. That kinda stuff only happens TO the Phillies not FOR them. Hamels pumped his fist and yelled as did most of the other players on the field and they had life again. Going into that game 4-11 this was exactly what they needed, something to get them excited. The very next inning Utley homered and then Rowand homered in the 7th. The Phils hang on to a 4-1 win over the Reds and with every strikeout Hamels threw, you could see them getting more excited... this is what they were waiting for, a spark of life.

The next day they got Howard back and in his first game back he homered. Granted I believe it was his only hit, but seeing Howard do what he is supposed to helps the team more than anything. They put together 11 runs and started working as a team. Next was 9 runs against Houston, then Tuesday night an 8th inning rally against Washington to win 6-3 and last night another 9 runs against the Nats. It seems like the Phillies are finally coming together as a team. Burrell is pulling through in the pinch, Rowand has a 12 game hit streak, Howard is on base at least 2x a game, Utley is 6 for his last 8, Rollins hit his 8th Homer of the season last night and Myers is settling down in the pen. As of now, depending on their ABs that game, they have 5 or 6 guys batting at or over .300 and they haven't given up more than 4 runs in any of their last 6. At 9-11 now they are building confidence in themselves and enstating it in their fans. Next goal... get over .500.

In other the news, the Flyers and Sixers still suck. More importantly the Eagles have the NFL draft this weekend. With only 2 days before the draft I've heard about 187,623 different opinions about what will happen in the top 4 picks, everything from the Raiders will trade to drafting Calvin Johnson, JeMarcus Russell to Brady Quinn to Quinn will suck he's not big enough to JeMarcus Russell will be a bust because he's not talented or smart enough to.... blah blah blah. Everyone thinks so differently... the only thing the critics are in agreement on is: Calvin Johnson will be a beast. The team that gets him will not be sorry. Most likely right now... to me... the Lions. They Love wideouts there in Detroit. You have to admit, Roy Williams and Calvin Johnson as your first two options... I could throw 25 TDs with those guys on my team. So till next week... GO Phils and Birds.

P.S. A-rod is on pace to hit 300 rbis and 109 HRs.

More Wasted... Non-Effort

Last night I attended the Phillies vs. Nationals game in DC. I usually go once a series when they visit. This being the first time they were in town this year. The seats were great along the left field line; the atmosphere was great with at least 3-4,000 Philly fans there amongst the 11,000 strong crowd. The game was a good game... if you can call it that. On the way in I had the following conversation with D-ton, my accomplice for the evening, "Are you gonna be dressed warm enough for the game?"
"Don't worry, the anxiety from watching the Phillies try to blow the game almost every inning will keep me warm."
"Won't that make you angry?"
"Not until they lose. But at least then I'll still be warm from the anger."
It's like going to meet your high school Girlfriend when you know she's gonna tell you she fucked the quarterback last night and has been for a week and she just cant see it working out between you two.

This is how we think... Philly fans that is. Now there are multiple types of Philly fans, some old and new all graced with the same skepticism, however... some choose to vent it during the game, unlike me. I'll speak before and after but never during... except... well i'll get back to that.

So we go into the game with great seats playing the lowly Nationals in front of their Marlins-esque crowd looking to have an enjoyable evening at the ball park. Phillies jumped out to an early 1-0 lead in the second inning when the always unreliable Rod Barajas hit a single followed by the more unreliable Pitcher Adam Eaton crushing one to the fence. A double that scores the "Donkey Kong from Mario Kart"-esquely slow Barajas from first, only because the outfielder misplayed the ball off the wall. Then Eaton melted down in the bottom of the inning. After a HBP, and a line drive off his hand he gives up a 3 run shot to Schneider. Right before that HR my buddy Chris just happened to point out Schneider had 5 rbi's this year without actually getting a hit on those rbi's. Needless to say... the phillies broke that streak for him. The Nationals later capitalizing on base hits brought in another run on a sac fly in the 3rd.

The Phillies 1-4 batters finished the game an incredible 2 for 21. Both hits coming from Victorino. This game was deemed worthy of the title the "Toilet Bowl". The Phils came into the game leaving a 122 LOBs in 12 games, first in the league, while the Nats were second with 115 LOBs but in 14 GAMES! So as this seemed impossible to avoid... it was. There was even a fan in the lowest section near 3rd base who had a sign that read "Phillies LOB: (insert number here)." Phils wound up with 9 (as predicted) and the Nats with 13 so we won... that battle.

I digress, as Philly sports always does, the Phils staged a comeback late in the game. After a hit by burrell and a double by rowand pinch hitter Greg Dobbs singled in two runs. Then after a second hit Rollins came up with 2 on and 1 out and managed to hit in to a double play (part of his 0 for 6 night). Then as one could have predicted, the Phils managed to stage a 9th inning comeback... after a leadoff single by Burrell and the most obvious substitution in MLB on a daily basis, Pinch runner Bourn for Burrell, (I wish I could bet on this in baseball, the line would have to be around -900) followed by a hit by Helms, the Phillies had Rowand at the plate. A sac bunt, which I didnt like, moved them over to 2nd and 3rd 1 out for Ruiz. Ruiz hits a groundball up the middle to 2nd baseman Belliard to score Bourn and tie the game. Then they strand the guy at 3rd. Don't worry in the 10th they did the same thing.

In the 12th the most exciting moment of the game came when a line drive foul ball found its way to the empty section next to me where I ran over and picked it up capturing my second career foul ball and my 3rd career television appearance (cool shots, Phillies vs. Orioles) as verified by one of my groosman seconds later via text message.

Then the epitome of the Philadelphia Sports fan way of life became even clearer than ever. As newly acquired (for player to be named later; shouldn't this read: for free cause he sucks and if you want him jesus just take him already) Francisco Rosario approached the mound a random Philly fan stopped next to me and said "this is it, this guy sucks, I guarantee we don't make it out of this inning". He went back to his seat, in the first row (clearly moved down as did we) and I proceeded to watch an infield single followed by a double down the line which led to 2nd and 3rd no out. He turned back to look for me and we caught eyes and he just raised his hands as if to say, "see?". It was obvious, that even after every other pitcher the phillies had (except gordon) that there would be a weak link in the chain... and that guy knew it. The next batter worked a 2-1 count and i couldn't help myself. I turned to D-ton and said, "this is it... this is the last pitch of the game," sure enough the next pitch was a sac fly to win. The Phils lose again in the ritualistic "bend you over and show you who's boss" manner. I wish you could press charges for Emotional Rape.

Needless to say they are 3-10 the worst team in the Majors and we still have 149 more games of this. Every time they came up in a spot they blew it. Howard looked terrible, Rollins looked worse and Utley simply looked like he was going through the motions. This team clearly doesn't want to be on the field anymore than we want to be watching them. Its almost as if they have that same conversation as I did on the way in. Their anxiety will keep them warm but at the end of the day, it'll only be anger. Doesn't that thought process have to stop somewhere??? So we wait for that one guy who decides, to step up and say, I'm gonna change the game... until then I'll continue to pursue the legal possibilities of emotional rape.